November 2001

Transit Alternatives - An open house will be held on Tuesday afternoon, November 27, between 1 PM and 4:30 PM at UT Southwestern Moncrief Cancer Center, 1450 Eighth Avenue, for medical district employees and other southside citizens interested in learning about the Transit Alternatives Analysis. There will be no formal presentations. Everyone is welcome to come by, browse through the visual displays, and offer your comments to the consultants. This is part of an effort to determine the preferred high-capacity transit system for Fort Worth. Concepts being explored include various technologies, alignments, funding sources, timeframes, etc. Typical questions include: How should the heavy rail commuter system (Trinity Rail Express) be expanded to the southwest from it’s current terminus at the T&P Depot? 8^th Avenue rail corridor? Where should stations be located? What streets would be best suited for a light rail trolley system?

Model Blocks - Fort Worth South, Inc. has made formal application to the City for inclusion in the 2001-2002 Model Blocks Program and the upcoming city-wide competition for the $1.2 million grant. The money is awarded annually to help neighborhoods improve housing, enhance public infrastructure, strengthen small businesses, and upgrade streetscape elements. FWS’s application focuses on a strategically located mixed-use neighborhood along the publicly owned "trail" known as Oleander Street. FWS calls the project "Oleander Walk" and plans to encourage new mixed-use development along an enhanced pedestrian corridor. The target area is between Rosedale, Magnolia, Eighth, and Hemphill. Final decision is expected in May 2002.

Cook’s Demo & Expansion - The old three-story 70,000 square foot building located on the southwest corner of 6^th Avenue and Pruitt Street is being demolished. The building was first occupied in 1961 and used as the Fort Worth Children’s Hospital. In recent years it’s been used as an outpatient clinic and laboratory. The time capsule placed in the building when it was constructed will be opened at 2 PM November 27. The site will become a major construction project for a new $57 million 81-bed pediatric and neonatal intensive care unit attached to the north side of the main hospital building.

Move’n South - The City’s residential Code Compliance Department is relocating from leased space at 715 Texas Street in the downtown to a 2,200 square foot space in the Bicocchi Building at 211 S. Jennings. The lease is for 5 years. They expect to move on December 6. Fort Worth South was an attractive option because lease rates were lower and the location was equally convenient.

Rename Hattie - Fort Worth South, Inc. has made formal application to the City to rename the four block section of Hattie Street between S. Main Street and Interstate 35 to Pennsylvania Avenue. The objective is to eliminate the confusion associated with having this east-west corridor carry two names. The cost of the change will be about $800 which covers the cost of replacing street signs.

Charon + Hatch - Chris Hatch has acquired the property on the southeast corner of College Ave. and Daggett St. He plans to construct a one-story office building and relocate his accounting business from the southwestern part of the city. FWS members Tom Malone of TMA Architects designed the building and Frost Bank and the William Mann CDC financed it. Construction is to begin early next year. As with Architect Ray Darrow, who is moving his firm into a remodeled building across the street, Chris liked the location, economics, and the adjacency to the proposed new Vickery Boulevard alignment.

Corridors - The Leland Consulting Group will make a final presentation to the City Council on Tuesday, November 27 on their yearlong effort to create plans and processes for rebuilding central city corridors, including Hemphill and Rosedale. This important work involved many FWS members. Leyland has created a plan for each of the ten urban villages located on five primary central city corridors. "Magnolia Village," at the intersection of Hemphill and Magnolia, is one of those villages. The plans include: A vision for each village, developed with strong input from all the stakeholders; a market analysis, weighing vision and market reality; a development program with recommendations for land use and urban design for each village; strategies for making the development program happen over time; and, steps to implement the program now.

Save the Date - Fort Worth South, Inc. will hold its annual meeting at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, January 22, 2002, at the Woman’s Club of Fort Worth, 1316 Pennsylvania Ave. This year’s event will include dinner, a review of the year’s progress, and a look at plans for the future. The Board of Directors, members, and other interested citizens are welcome and encouraged to attend. More to come.

Partner’s Breakfast - Jodi Conner and Susan Watson of Athletic Lettering, 125 South Jennings, will host this month’s meeting of FWS members, and wanna-be members, to talk about doing business with each other. The one-hour session begins at 8 AM.

Bike racks - The City would like to place 10 bike racks in Fort Worth South in connection with the program to encourage the use of bicycles. This is part of the metroplex plan to expand the network of bike trails. Let us know of any suggestions on their placement.

Mixed-Use Ordinance - Over the last few weeks FWS’s Development and Executive Committees gave their approval to begin the process that will eventually lead to rezoning most district properties to one of the two new zoning categories: MU-1 (low intensity mixed-use) or MU-2 (high intensity mixed use). The object is to give property owners the ability to develop their properties in a way that permits more than one use on a given parcel. For example, the new zoning would permit an owner, by right, to develop their property with a commercial office or retail establishment on the first floor and residential accommodations on the upper floors. This mix of uses is not allowed under current zoning rules, except with a variance, even though it was the form in which the neighborhood first developed and prospered. FWS wants to encourage the redevelopment of the area in a mixed-use more traditional form. We worked with city leaders for many months to create the two new zoning categories which were approved in March 2001. Details of the proposal will be distributed to approximately 1,300 property owners in January 2002. Community meetings will be held in March, April and May to inform owners and to solicit their support. The Zoning Commission and the City Council will hold public hearings and make the final decisions to apply the new zoning categories to the district in July 2002.

Tarrant County Public Health Department - Below to the left is a rendering of the proposed 79,000 square foot two-story office building to be constructed on the southeast corner of S. Main Street and Rosedale. To the right is the 10 acre site bounded by Rosedale and S. Main which includes the Public Health building and further south along Main Street the proposed JPS Health Center for Women and the Ambulatory Surgery Center. Site work has begun. Construction begins on all buidlings in April 2002. FSB Texas are the architects & planners.

West Rosedale

Have / Want

Medical office for lease - 200 W. Magnolia, 3,000 sf, waiting, exam, consult rms, storage, pkg, great for multi-physician practice, Cathy 994-5713
Stone Soup Connection - books for kids, ages 4 to 14 for Christmas, used books or money to buy, non-profit, call Judy @ 923-6889

Members - Welcome and thanks to the four most recent new members of Fort Worth South, Inc. Current membership is 209.